Leo lay on his stomach, panting. Blood trickled out of a shallow cut in his forearm but he ignored it, leg twitching crazily. Peeking through the brambles, he smiled gratefully as the nymph obligingly curved the branches so he could see better. Mud and grease stained his hands as Leo peered at the formations of soldiers. He wasn't entirely sure what they were, dark and shadowy things that were not quite human. There were at least 30 legions, 30 of the creatures a legion, and he shuddered as the boots of one stomped past him. In the centre of the camp, all able demigods, Romans and Greeks, trained as one legion, about 60 of them, all moving and flowing as one.

Leo could see Octavian pacing around them, barking orders with a self-satisfied smirk on his face, but none of the Seven could be seen. Leo knew why. He had barely evaded the monsters when they'd come the week after Percy left. In the night, they skulked towards his cabin, only triggering the most delicate and tiny of his alarms. He'd barely had time to scramble into his bed and pull the decoy over his head, letting out a breath as the bed sank into the underground bunker, which had a conveniently collapsible tunnel to Bunker 9. He'd escaped, but from the screams above, his friends hadn't.

Since then, he'd been trying frantically to contact Percy, but there was some sort of barrier that prevented anything, from squirrels to radio waves, the latter of which he'd tried several times himself, from leaving the camp. After the eleventh different machine, he gave up and began searching for the rest of the Seven.

It hadn't been hard to find them. He'd found the small but almost completely impenetrable bunker built behind the house almost immediately, and the muffled pounding on the door had confirmed his suspicions.

He snuck back to Bunker 9 quietly, turning on the large screen nailed to the stone wall. Flicking a few switches, Leo yanked a lever, activating the tiny device connected to it.

Jason's face suddenly filled the screen, and he looked worriedly down at Leo. "What's wrong? Can you contact Percy?" He shook his head, feeling guilty. Piper's tinny voice resonated quietly, as her eyes popped into view. "Well, I guess that confirms our suspicions on the barrier, huh." Jason sighed. "Any other news? What's happening in camp?" Leo shook his head. "More and more of the things are coming in. The demigods are still training daily, though, and I've a feeling they're being drugged. They all seem kinda spaced out, but a lot of demigods who've shown resistance to Octavian and Hazel have been locked up as well, in a bunker not too far from yours. I've been working on a small project, it should be done soon and then I can get you guys out and into Bunker 9. That okay with you guys? Just sit tight, uncle Leo will bust your butts outta there." The cocky grin he flashed felt empty, but from the reassured looks on their faces he knew that they believed it. A voice muttered, and Reyna's grumpy voice echoed off the walls of the bunker. "Not like there's anything else we can do, is there?" Leo shrugged. "I guess. I'll just have to keep trying to get Percy and Nico." Jason nodded. There was nothing else to say.

Leo blinked as he ended the call, and dropped his head into his hands. First he was a normal third wheel, not really needed, and now suddenly he was their only hope. It could really get a guy down. He grabbed a rope, tugging it twice and stepping onto a platform as it was mechanically hauled up, into the loft of Bunker 9, where his bed and personal workshop was. Sitting at the desk, he fiddled with a drill automaton, before sighing and giving up.

He remembered when it had all gone downhill. About two months ago, when Percy left, they sent out a search party. The Seven had volunteered, sans Annabeth and Hazel, who said that she needed some "alone time". But the day they'd come back, Leo instinctively knew something was wrong. She had changed, even though she looked the same. Only Frank seemed to notice, but he shrugged it off. Leo wasn't so sure.

Then, about a week after, Hazel took over. The campers woke that morning to the shrill sound of clashing swords, and Leo, along with the others, had run out to see her duelling fiercely with Reyna. For a while, Reyna's experience carried her, but as her strength flagged she stumbled, and Hazel showing no sign of tiring. She forced the praetor back, step by step, until she fell. Leo was the only one close enough to see Hazel's eyes, pure black for a second before it faded, leaving the confused brown pupils to regard what she'd done.

Leo rubbed his own eyes. Now Hazel was praetor with Octavian, and the Seven, along with Reyna, had been locked up and it was up to him to get them out.

The next day, Leo was back at it again, fiddling with his newest machine, the previous eight having exploded or met similarly untimely ends. Stepping back, he tweaked the friction contrafibulator, before filling the fluid links with mercury and setting them into place, screwing them on and connecting the synchronic shadow retraction circuit, before flicking the handily large on switch. It flickered for a second, before the fluid links began to pulse, lighting up the immediate area with a silvery, metallic glow. The screen lit up, flashing as the round ball-thingy began to spin. Leo wasn't sure what that did, but as Percy and Nico's surprised faces formed on the screen, he figured it couldn't be that bad. They looked down at him, and he grinned, pumping his fist in glee. "Hey, water boy! Can you hear me?" Percy's expression twisted into a dry look, and he nodded. "Yeah." The response was crackly and staticky, but Leo didn't care. The synchronic shadow refraction circuit had actually worked. He had gotten through the barrier! Rubbing his hands proudly, he quickly explained the situation, watching as their expressions went from happy to downright despair, Nico's face drawn and pale. Percy just looked furious. "Eris!" Leo squinted at him, but he just waved it away, shaking his head. "Never mind. Listen, we're just off the shore of Long Island. How fast can we get to you?" Leo blinked in shock. They were fast. "Uh, we can only do it at night. How's 2am tonight sound?" They nodded, and as Leo switched his machine off, he looked at it. Tonight it was going to have to physically hold the barrier open enough long enough for Percy and Nico to slip through.

He was going to need bigger fluid links.

He looked at the other machine, tapping a few keys and pushing a button. "Hey, guys." The two-way camera built into Jason's watch crackled and his face came into view again. "Yeah?"

"I got through. They're coming. I can't tell you when." Jason nodded in understanding. They didn't know if Hazel was tracking their conversations. They didn't want them to know anything. A smile broke across Jason's face, smoothing out the stress. "Guys." Leo could hear them gathering around the watch. "Leo says they're coming." A few sighs of relief and hugs seemed to ensue, although Leo wasn't sure; the camera was tiny.

"Alright guys, I have to go. Sit tight."

At least there was hope now. Leo grinned, twirling his screwdriver. It would be like a jailbreak. He couldn't wait.